Has Nintendo NX just killed the Wii U in 2015?

After suggesting buying the Wii U in 2015, should we abandon all hope for the console in light of the Nintendo NX announcement? Yoshi and Kirby games have historically been a grave omen. They are Nintendo’s harbingers of demise for a console, to slowly take us fans by the hand and say “there is still hope”, but will only soften the blow for the end.

No. Besides, we won't see any news or information until sometime in 2016, which means the thing won't release until sometime in 2017 or 2018. Nobody really expected more than a 5-6 year shelf life for the Wii U anyways.

Yeah um NO..You'll see an announcement at E3 THIS YEAR...and the announcement of the NOV 2016 release date at E3 2016, along with the announcement of Zelda and possibly Starfox being launch titles....Zelda was pushed for a reason, and I bet that reason includes it being cancelled on the Wii U and development being moved to the new console..

They said we'd find out more about the nx NEXT year. If they were going to announce it this year they would have said that. Also zelda is still being called zelda for wiiu. If they started calling it "the next zelda" I'd think you had a point but as it stands not really. If they wanted to move zelda to the next console they'd slowly stop referring to it as zelda for wiiu. I've heard people saying that zeldabeing delayed proves that wiiu will have games next year. There seems to be a lot of confirmation bias with the zelda news. People who think that the nx is coming next year say that the zelda news proves it and people who think that the nx is coming out later say that zelda proves that. The zelda news means nothing about nintendo's harware, just that zelda will be delayed.

they announced it a year early. E3 this year should have been focused on the final big push for the wiiu. they should have made a playable demo for zelda wiiu, and they should have announced a few more major titles, such as metroid for wiiu.

NX is bad news because it sends a message to anyone who hasnt purchased a wiiu yet (a lot of people,) that its not worth buying a wiiu, and to hold out for the NX.

essentially, nintendo threw in the towel on the wiiu with the announcement of the NX.

also, i was going to purchase a wiiu for xenoblade x. for me, X is worth it alone, but at least zelda wiiu would have made me feel a lot better about blowing so much money just for one game. But now they delayed zelda wiiu, it makes me think twice about even getting a wiiu at all.

if the NX is backwards compatible, maybe i wont even need a wiiu. and lets just be completely honest, the wiiu is a terrible console anyway.

I do agree with what you are saying. It puts the NX in a bad situation because those who opt to wait for the NX instead have to pray that it has Wii U backwards compatibility, otherwise they won't be able to play these great final games that the Wii U will offer.

Dude, Xenoblade is less than a month away in Japan they can't move it to NX...You're just trolling every Nintendo NX and Zelda Wii U article.

As I said elsewhere, if you're going to try and hide your trolling at least get your facts straight.

Also as I said elsewhere in regards to it being a handheld or not: "Well, the DSi launched in April 2009 and the 3DS launched in March of 2011. The New 3DS launched in February of 2015 so if they announce the NX at E3 2016 and release it Spring 2017 it'd be right on target."

Also as was said elsewhere in regards to having no games in 2015: "Splatoon, Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World, Xenoblade, Star Fox..."ZERO", nice try. Add in Devil's Third, and whatever they announce and they've got a decent line up."

Denial is just the first stage of grief, I know the Zelda delay has been hard for everyone...But at least you'll have time to come to acceptance before the game launches /s

NX is likely launching in two years time though. We know so little about it it may as well be in the pre-production stage. Zelda is being delayed to next year. I'm pretty convinced that it will still be a Wii U exclusive.

Or alternatively (and more accurately), Nintendo killed the Wii U by completely bungling the design, basing it around a questionable gimmick and leaving out tons of commonly-expected features that have been in consoles for a decade or more. Yeah, more like it.

Agree, but also what Nintendo did is an announcement of an announement, wich is a pretty stupid thing to do, so yes, they killed the Wii U for all the reasons you mentioned and now they just give it the last shot in the head with the NX anouncement. I mean, if Nintendo was not going to give us any info about the NX at the time, only that they will tell us more about it next year, then they should have keept their mouth shut!

People are also not considering NX also connects to Wii U and 3DS so we can't say for sure. Based on what we have seen it looks more like Nintendo's version of Playstation TV which I think could be very good for them. But I'm just guessing and could be totally wrong. I think Wii U had another year or two ahead of its lifespan. People are writing it off too early IMO.

The rumors and news do not dictate a weakening place for Nintendo. Nintendo just wants to go a different route but we're not exactly for sure what this NX thing is aside from being a mobile program or console.

It's weird that Nintendo announced the NX. If it really is a next gen console (for Nintendo), it makes sense that they want to be at the level of PS4/XOne ASAP, specially for third party support. The Wii U is a failure to them, might not be at the level of the Virtyal Boy, but it makes sense that Nintendo is looking for making a better business. Also, the 3DS is nearing its life cycle, so if the rumors of the NX being a console/portable hybrid are true, then it makes perfect sense.

Nintendo might look like bad guys if they get rid of the Wii U so suddenly, but business-wise it does make sense.

Another thing is that the delay of Zelda could be actually so that it could launch on the NX. Wild theory right now, but it is possible if Nintendo is indeed thinking of getting rid of the Wii U. It can also serve as a pretty valid hook to make people buy the new console, and somehow Nintendo can pretend it never existed, while gaining actual support from third parties and have more games. They also have an epic Mario to launch, and a new console could be another excuse.

Well Iwata did say they didn't want to keep moving forward without "winning" last year didn't he?

Look, like I said earlier, there are currently no 2016 Wii U games we know of. Every thing they have been showing and working on the past few years will be out this year. Sure they may announce a couple more but I think they are moving on from Wii U.

Wii U is just not something that caught on and will be 4 years old by holiday 2016. So we shouldn't be surprised if anything happens.

Ugh, these articles are annoying. NO, we know nothing about it and it won't be released until 2017/18 the latest. Zelda got pushed back so clearly they are going to support the WiiU through 2016. The only reason they even mentioned it is so when they announced the DeNA mobile plans stupid articles claiming "WiiU is dead, Nintendo to make cellphone games" or "Nintendo is giving up on gaming" but apparently blind, close minded sensationalist can't think that out themselves.

Agree with you sir...people are dumber than I thought...Wii u is not dead...Zelda is not going to be an nx launch title...the only mistake Nintendo made was that they had to announce the nx so early so they can come calm the gamers who thought that Nintendo was going mobile...that backfired because some gamers still don't get it

It's pretty clear that the Wii U is incapable of running a large, open-world game such as they've been planning for the new Zelda. With only a measly 2gb of RAM (only 1GB available for games), a weak CPU and GPU, and no internal HDD, it just wasn't well designed for any kind of modern games with large open worlds, detailed textures, advanced physics, etc.

They'd be smart to transition the Zelda game to the NX, and phase the Wii U out. The system just isn't selling well at all, and that's despite several flagship games being recently released (like Mario Kart).

The real question is, will they cobble yet another gimmick into the NX to "differentiate" themselves from the competition, or will they actually try to design a solid, feature-rich console? With Iwata still in charge, I'd bet that they're still searching for another gimmick to try to boost sales, which is really sad. They should have gotten rid of him a long time ago, he's steering them to the bottom of the ocean.

The new Xenoblade its a huge open World game,looks amazing,haves lots of AI enemys and other stuff on screen ...i dont see any technical problem arising for Zelda on the Wii U.The game was already showed running on the Wii U look great its more than obvious that the reason for the delay is just to achieve the level of polish an fun Nintendo always gives to there games it has nothing to do with the NX release.

Think I'll be putting mine out for sale today - these announcements are making me feel like Nintendo will soon be abandoning the Wii U - It makes sense as well, while there have been some great games - the console just hasn't done that well.

Yup, Zelda just got a very convenient delay to 2016 and NX just happens to be coming out late 2016? It all makes sense. The Wii U is a decent console, it just has a bad name, no hard drive and a very expensive controller.

It's amazing how people can go full retarded with something like this. It's like Nintendo said "we're working on a new console, and we're gonna sell it tomorrow". First of all, the wiiu has been with us by 3 years now. Next year they'll say something about the NY and they'll start selling it at 2017 / 2018. That gives the wiiu a full 5 year cycle, as any other console. And about Zelda... EVERY ZELDA EVER HAS BEEN DELAYED ONE YEAR. ALWAYS. Stop making conspiracies in our ordinary world, people.

What exactly makes you think there is a " 5 year cycle"? It's law or something? You don't pull Wii U off the shelves if another one comes out. Hell Wii is still on the shelves and that POS is still leeching off some Wii U sales every week.

Sure all Zelda's get delayed, but it could also be a convenient delay that keeps people into Wii U for that final push year. Since there is NOTHING planned for Wii U in 2016 why would they mind??

They pretty much abandoned Wii after the first 3 years. Some games here and there but the big push was over, and that console sold WELL.

I agree with you, the paranoid here is the article, read the title. By the way, of course the five year cycle is not a law, is a tendency:

N64: 1996 GameCube: 2001 Wii: 2006 WiiU: 2012

So, if they show us about NX next year, that makes the NX a 2017 - 2018 console, as Nintendo evidently has a tendency to release their consoles every 5=6 years, as you can see in this simple research work. I used Wikipedia and three minutes of my time.

You are not taking into account that the Wii U is a very bad failure for Nintendo. It has sold even less that the Gamecube (Nintendo's worst selling console). The PS4 and Xbox One has sold more in just a year. Nintendo has lost almost all third party support AGAIN.

So a new console is mentioned, Zelda has been delayed a little, and now everyone is freaking out saying WiiU is officially dead and Zelda will be on NX. Zelda is coming to WiiU, all 3D Zella's have been delayed at some point, so everyone needs to calm down.

First I think the Wii U is a good game console. The fact is it is an utter failure for Nintendo and probably wont sell as much as the Gamecube did by the end of its life cycle (around 23 million). It would be best for Nintendo to release the new Zelda as a launch game on the new Nintendo console NX or whatever it will be. I was going to get a Wii U but now I think my PS4 will be enough this generation.

A lot of people on GAF and Destructoid seem to be drawn to that possibility. I really don't see why people think Nintendo is killing Wii U so rapidly when the system just started becoming profitable. I am interested to see what NX is but I don't want to get rid of my Wii U for that.

Exactly, if Nintendo never mentioned the NX in their briefing and just the mobile stuff we'd have had 100s of articles saying that Nintendo will stop making consoles etc. they can't win no matter what they say, the media will just twist it like they always do.